WRFA Public affairs director Jason Sample talks with Chautauqua County Board of Elections Commissioner Norman Green on Wednesday, April 20 to get details on voter turnout for the 2016 Presidential Primary.
The two also discuss the number of affidavit ballots that had to be handed out due to some voters showing up only to learn they did not appear as registered members of either the Democratic or Republican parties and as a result, were not listed as eligible to vote in that party’s primary.
Norman Green
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I was turned away at the poles in Mayville after inquiring about provisional ballot. As an registered Independent voter (Largest Third Party in the US) I was aware about the affidavit option However,.election officials on site were unaware of affidavit voting was an option.
Hi David. Thanks for posting. Where did you go to vote? Did you get the names of the poll workers who refused to give you a ballot? Also a couple of things to keep in mind…
1. If you told them you are a registered independent voter, then you would have already precluded yourself from participating in the primary so perhaps that’s why they didn’t provide an affidavit?
2. Being an independent voter means you’ve registered as unaffiliated with any party, so you can’t really say that all unaffiliated voters comprise the largest Third Party in the US. It’s not a party, and the political philosophy of one independent can be much different than the other, so grouping them all as part of a “party” is an inaccurate assessment. Actually, the largest third party in the US is the Libertarian Party, followed by the Green Party, and then the Constitution Party. There is also an Independence Party – but that has no connection to someone being an independent voter.